Chapter 18 Magic Kingdom/Tutto Italia Dinner
By the time we finished our breakfast at Kona Cafe, and caught the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom, it was already after 11:30. We entered the park and thought about what we wanted to do. It was already a very hot day, and the thought of spending a lot of time out in the heat wasn't very appealing. The fact there seemed to be so many people roaming around didn't help any.
Jonathan and Drew ran off to catch some rides. Before they left I told them what time they needed to be back at the room so we could be ready to leave on time to make our dinner ADR. Alison and I decided to walk through some of the shops on Main Street, partly to see some of the items on sale in the shops, but maybe more so to stay in the shade and air conditioning. Seemed like a good time to get some pictures of the Main Street area along the way.
There was no line when we got there, so we decided to keep the shade theme going and ride the People Mover. There are always a lot of opportunities to get some unique pictures.
Our ride on the People Mover done, next came the proverbial question............what do you want to do next? That is when it hit us that it had been a hot, long week and we had really done pretty much everything that we really wanted to do. At least, we had done everything important enough to tolerate more heat over. We had a long drive the next day and with the prospects of returning to work the day after, heading back to the resort to relax and start getting packed seemed much more appealing.
Taking our time on the way back out of the park I was able to get a couple more pictures. At the time this seemed like an interesting perspective of the castle.
Heading back down Main Street, USA.......about an hour after entering the park! Talk about getting great use out of an Annual Pass.
Apparently there were still some poor suckers, uh, I mean guests who were brave enough to venture into the park for the hottest part of the day. Being a Saturday, maybe they were just starting their vacation week???
We got back to the resort and decided since this was the last chance to hit the pool and get some sun we better take advantage of it. Isn't it funny that "get some sun" (when a pool is involved of course) is an appealing idea just after justifying leaving a park because it was too hot out in the sun to enjoy it.
As it turns out, the boys had gone over to Space Mountain, and took a quick trip over to BTMMR, Splash and PotC, and decided that the waits were already too long to and the day too warm to stand in any lines and try to do anything else, and headed back to the resort also. We found them in the game room having fun where it was a lot cooler. After a short stay at the pool, and again proving to myself that the pool water was still much too warm to provide any relief, I decided to head back to the room to relax and start packing at least some of my stuff. It didn't take long until everyone else showed up to join me.
Following an afternoon of TV, naps and just cooling down and relaxing, it was time to head over to Epcot for our dinner ADR at Tutto Italia. I was so looking forward to this meal after the last time we had eaten there. I had ordered the stuffed pork chop and absolutely loved it, so I knew exactly what I was going to get this time also. Everyone else was in the "wait until I get there and see what grabs me when I look at the menu" mode.
We headed out, caught a bus pretty quickly, and were soon at the front gates of Epcot. Now came the fun of walking in the heat all the way to Italy in the back of the World Showcase. We considered taking one of the ferries across the lake, but it had just left when we got there and since we had plenty of time, we decided to keep walking. We made it to Italy and arrived at our destination about 20 minutes before our ADR and checked in. They weren't extremely busy so we only had about a five minute wait before they called us to be seated.
The other time we ate at Tutto Italia we were seated just inside, in a small area where there are only a couple of tables. This time we were in the middle of the large dining room. We were all rather hungry and decided to try one of the appetizers. As our waiter left to get our drinks and put in the appetizer order, my attention turned to the menu. I scanned the menu to find my much anticipated pork chop, so I could practice saying the "official" name for it and impress our waiter with my fluent (southern USA) Italian.
Okay, I must have looked right over it........let's try again.
Hmmm, must have missed it again.....................am I looking in the wrong place???
Nope, no other pages of the menu to turn to................
Really??? They couldn't have taken the absolute best item they had off the menu could they? But when our waiter returned, he confirmed they had changed the menu recently and the pork chop was no longer being offered. Everyone else had decided what they wanted to eat, but now I found myself at ground zero trying to make a quick decision. I asked the waiter for suggestions and he told me that one of the pasta dishes was a specialty and they actually made the pasta for it in the kitchen, so it was fresh and authentic. I looked at the description on the menu and it all sounded okay, so I reluctantly decided to go with that one while the taste of that delicious pork chop still danced in my head and on my taste buds!
Our waiter soon returned with our appetizer.........the Prosciutto di Parma..........which was cantaloupe with Prosciutto. This looked very good, and tasted equally as good, so it disappeared quickly. I'm thinking if we had ordered two instead of only sharing one, the second one would have suffered the same quick fate.
After enjoying our appetizer, and the nice variety of breads, the waiter brought out the dishes we had ordered. Alison and Andrew both ordered Lasagna Alla Bolognese (Emilia beef sauce, bechamel, parmesan cheese)
Jonathan ordered (I think this is the name, but it is no longer on the menu so not completely certain) Tagliolini Con Gamberi E Carciofi, which is tagliolini pasta, shrimp, braised artichokes and cream.
And finally here is my dish that the waiter recommended, which was simply called Casareci. It is cavatelli pasta, sweet sausage ragu, tomatoes and Pecorino Romano.
I guess because it was freshly made in their kitchen, the pasta had a chewy texture to it. Cavatelli pasta is described as "hot dog bun shaped" pasta, but with the ridges and the way it rolls up, I couldn't help but think of something completely different while I was eating it. Now don't get me wrong, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the dish, and the sauce and cheese complemented it perfectly. But when I came in I had my heart set on a breaded pork chop, pan fried in olive oil and stuffed with prosciutto and Romano cheese. I just wasn't really in the mood for a tomato sauce and probably would have been better off ordering something different. I'm not sure which played the biggest part in my disappointment with my meal, but I'm guessing it is more that I couldn't get what I had so looked forwarded to returning to Tutto Italia to eat.
This was our final night's meal and we decided to splurge all the way and also get dessert. They had some excellent choices and it was a little tough for everyone to decide. Alison ordered the dessert sampler, which had a sample sized cannoli, tiramisu, and some type of mousse in a chocolate shell, with strawberries. After this came I wished I had ordered it myself.
Drew had ordered the tiramisu the first time we ate here and found out it just wasn't something he cared for. This time knowing he can't miss with ice cream, he got the chocolate Gelati.
Jonathan and I both ordered the Cannoli. It seemed like it was a waste of an awfully big plate the way they had it presented. Maybe if they had put the Cannoli in the middle and split the cocoa dusting of eating utensils on either side the plate might not have looked so much bigger than the Cannoli???
Everyone really enjoyed their desserts, and it was definitely a great way to top off our final dinner.
After we finished the meal the boys ran off to try and get in a couple of rides while Alison and I just strolled through the rest of WS and eventually made our way to the front of the park. We had to get up a little early the next morning to get everything loaded in the car, check out and make it to the Poly in time for our breakfast ADR so we decided to head back to the resort to start packing up. We made it to the bus stop and while we waited up walked the boys, ready to head back to the room too. Although nobody was looking forward to the ride home, I think everyone had gotten their fill. The boys will usually go out the final night and try to hit all the big rides at all the parks if they can. I don't know if not having Matthew along for the first time played a part in it, but this time it appeared they weren't interested in anything but getting back to the room.
Coming up Chapter 19 O'Hana Breakfast/Travel Day
By the time we finished our breakfast at Kona Cafe, and caught the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom, it was already after 11:30. We entered the park and thought about what we wanted to do. It was already a very hot day, and the thought of spending a lot of time out in the heat wasn't very appealing. The fact there seemed to be so many people roaming around didn't help any.
Jonathan and Drew ran off to catch some rides. Before they left I told them what time they needed to be back at the room so we could be ready to leave on time to make our dinner ADR. Alison and I decided to walk through some of the shops on Main Street, partly to see some of the items on sale in the shops, but maybe more so to stay in the shade and air conditioning. Seemed like a good time to get some pictures of the Main Street area along the way.
There was no line when we got there, so we decided to keep the shade theme going and ride the People Mover. There are always a lot of opportunities to get some unique pictures.
Our ride on the People Mover done, next came the proverbial question............what do you want to do next? That is when it hit us that it had been a hot, long week and we had really done pretty much everything that we really wanted to do. At least, we had done everything important enough to tolerate more heat over. We had a long drive the next day and with the prospects of returning to work the day after, heading back to the resort to relax and start getting packed seemed much more appealing.
Taking our time on the way back out of the park I was able to get a couple more pictures. At the time this seemed like an interesting perspective of the castle.
Heading back down Main Street, USA.......about an hour after entering the park! Talk about getting great use out of an Annual Pass.
Apparently there were still some poor suckers, uh, I mean guests who were brave enough to venture into the park for the hottest part of the day. Being a Saturday, maybe they were just starting their vacation week???
We got back to the resort and decided since this was the last chance to hit the pool and get some sun we better take advantage of it. Isn't it funny that "get some sun" (when a pool is involved of course) is an appealing idea just after justifying leaving a park because it was too hot out in the sun to enjoy it.
As it turns out, the boys had gone over to Space Mountain, and took a quick trip over to BTMMR, Splash and PotC, and decided that the waits were already too long to and the day too warm to stand in any lines and try to do anything else, and headed back to the resort also. We found them in the game room having fun where it was a lot cooler. After a short stay at the pool, and again proving to myself that the pool water was still much too warm to provide any relief, I decided to head back to the room to relax and start packing at least some of my stuff. It didn't take long until everyone else showed up to join me.
Following an afternoon of TV, naps and just cooling down and relaxing, it was time to head over to Epcot for our dinner ADR at Tutto Italia. I was so looking forward to this meal after the last time we had eaten there. I had ordered the stuffed pork chop and absolutely loved it, so I knew exactly what I was going to get this time also. Everyone else was in the "wait until I get there and see what grabs me when I look at the menu" mode.
We headed out, caught a bus pretty quickly, and were soon at the front gates of Epcot. Now came the fun of walking in the heat all the way to Italy in the back of the World Showcase. We considered taking one of the ferries across the lake, but it had just left when we got there and since we had plenty of time, we decided to keep walking. We made it to Italy and arrived at our destination about 20 minutes before our ADR and checked in. They weren't extremely busy so we only had about a five minute wait before they called us to be seated.
The other time we ate at Tutto Italia we were seated just inside, in a small area where there are only a couple of tables. This time we were in the middle of the large dining room. We were all rather hungry and decided to try one of the appetizers. As our waiter left to get our drinks and put in the appetizer order, my attention turned to the menu. I scanned the menu to find my much anticipated pork chop, so I could practice saying the "official" name for it and impress our waiter with my fluent (southern USA) Italian.
Okay, I must have looked right over it........let's try again.
Hmmm, must have missed it again.....................am I looking in the wrong place???
Nope, no other pages of the menu to turn to................
Really??? They couldn't have taken the absolute best item they had off the menu could they? But when our waiter returned, he confirmed they had changed the menu recently and the pork chop was no longer being offered. Everyone else had decided what they wanted to eat, but now I found myself at ground zero trying to make a quick decision. I asked the waiter for suggestions and he told me that one of the pasta dishes was a specialty and they actually made the pasta for it in the kitchen, so it was fresh and authentic. I looked at the description on the menu and it all sounded okay, so I reluctantly decided to go with that one while the taste of that delicious pork chop still danced in my head and on my taste buds!
Our waiter soon returned with our appetizer.........the Prosciutto di Parma..........which was cantaloupe with Prosciutto. This looked very good, and tasted equally as good, so it disappeared quickly. I'm thinking if we had ordered two instead of only sharing one, the second one would have suffered the same quick fate.
After enjoying our appetizer, and the nice variety of breads, the waiter brought out the dishes we had ordered. Alison and Andrew both ordered Lasagna Alla Bolognese (Emilia beef sauce, bechamel, parmesan cheese)
Jonathan ordered (I think this is the name, but it is no longer on the menu so not completely certain) Tagliolini Con Gamberi E Carciofi, which is tagliolini pasta, shrimp, braised artichokes and cream.
And finally here is my dish that the waiter recommended, which was simply called Casareci. It is cavatelli pasta, sweet sausage ragu, tomatoes and Pecorino Romano.
I guess because it was freshly made in their kitchen, the pasta had a chewy texture to it. Cavatelli pasta is described as "hot dog bun shaped" pasta, but with the ridges and the way it rolls up, I couldn't help but think of something completely different while I was eating it. Now don't get me wrong, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the dish, and the sauce and cheese complemented it perfectly. But when I came in I had my heart set on a breaded pork chop, pan fried in olive oil and stuffed with prosciutto and Romano cheese. I just wasn't really in the mood for a tomato sauce and probably would have been better off ordering something different. I'm not sure which played the biggest part in my disappointment with my meal, but I'm guessing it is more that I couldn't get what I had so looked forwarded to returning to Tutto Italia to eat.
This was our final night's meal and we decided to splurge all the way and also get dessert. They had some excellent choices and it was a little tough for everyone to decide. Alison ordered the dessert sampler, which had a sample sized cannoli, tiramisu, and some type of mousse in a chocolate shell, with strawberries. After this came I wished I had ordered it myself.
Drew had ordered the tiramisu the first time we ate here and found out it just wasn't something he cared for. This time knowing he can't miss with ice cream, he got the chocolate Gelati.
Jonathan and I both ordered the Cannoli. It seemed like it was a waste of an awfully big plate the way they had it presented. Maybe if they had put the Cannoli in the middle and split the cocoa dusting of eating utensils on either side the plate might not have looked so much bigger than the Cannoli???
Everyone really enjoyed their desserts, and it was definitely a great way to top off our final dinner.
After we finished the meal the boys ran off to try and get in a couple of rides while Alison and I just strolled through the rest of WS and eventually made our way to the front of the park. We had to get up a little early the next morning to get everything loaded in the car, check out and make it to the Poly in time for our breakfast ADR so we decided to head back to the resort to start packing up. We made it to the bus stop and while we waited up walked the boys, ready to head back to the room too. Although nobody was looking forward to the ride home, I think everyone had gotten their fill. The boys will usually go out the final night and try to hit all the big rides at all the parks if they can. I don't know if not having Matthew along for the first time played a part in it, but this time it appeared they weren't interested in anything but getting back to the room.
Coming up Chapter 19 O'Hana Breakfast/Travel Day
Well, it does afford you the ability to be relaxed about touring and see as much or as little as you want. 
Well you get there about lunch on a Saturday....Yeah I can see that. 
